President Donald Trump on Friday awarded Boeing a pivotal contract to develop the U.S. Air Force’s most advanced fighter jet, the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) aircraft, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Why It Matters
The NGAD program is set to replace Lockheed Martin’s F-22 Raptor with a next-generation crewed aircraft designed to operate in tandem with drones. Lockheed Martin won the contract for the Raptor in 1991. The plane registered its first test flight in 1997 and formally entered service in 2005, according to the Air Force.
The NGAD program was envisioned as a “family of systems” built around a sixth-generation fighter designed to counter threats from nations like China and Russia.
The engineering and manufacturing development contract is valued at over $20 billion, and the winning company could secure hundreds of billions in orders over the program’s multi-decade life span.
AFP/Getty Images
What To Know
At a press conference in the Oval Office on Friday, Trump said Boeing’s F-47 “will be the most advanced, most capable, most lethal aircraft ever built. An experimental version of the plane has secretly been flying for almost five years, and we’re confident that it massively overpowers the capabilities of any other nation.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at the White House announcement: “This sends a direct, clear message to our allies that we’re not going anywhere, and to our enemies that we can and will project power around the globe.”
In a video shared on X, formerly Twitter, Air Force chief of staff General David Allvin touted the F-47 as the “future of combat” that will allow the U.S. Air Force to “continue to own the skies with the world’s first 6th-generation fighter jet.”
A sixth-generation fighter would have to include new technology not seen in previous generations, which makes it difficult to know what that might entail. The sixth-generation fighter jet is expected to feature stealth capabilities, sophisticated sensors, and state-of-the-art propulsion technology.
According to the Air Force, the model will include a “modular design” that emphasizes adaptability to “ensure seamless integration with emerging technologies, positioning it as a dominant platform for decades to come.”
Once production of the new fighter starts, each unit is expected to cost upward of $300 million, The War Zone reported.
Boeing shares rose 5 percent following the news, while Lockheed Martin’s stock dropped nearly 6 percent after losing out on the deal. Both companies declined to comment ahead of the official announcement from the White House on Friday morning.
The contract win marks a significant turnaround for Boeing, which has faced ongoing challenges in both its commercial and defense divisions: The commercial division has faced several speed bumps as it works to ramp up production of its flagship 737 MAX jet, while the defense unit has been burdened by underperforming contracts for midair refueling tankers, drones, and training aircraft.
It’s also a major boost for the company’s fighter jet production operations based in St. Louis. However, following this latest setback, Lockheed Martin now faces a more uncertain path in the high-end fighter jet market.
Billionaire and presidential adviser Elon Musk separately has expressed doubts about the long-term viability of manned fighter jets, arguing that more affordable drones may offer a more effective solution.
What Happens Next
The Air Force said the contract awarded to Boeing will fund the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the F-47, which will produce “a small number of test aircraft for evaluation.”
Update 3/21/25, 12:03 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update 3/21/25, 12:24 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Update: 3/21/25, 4:22 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
